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Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Antigua, Guatemala

05/07/2014

Our shuttle today wasn't until 12 so we arrived in Guatemala around 6 hours later having viewed yet more impressive scenery. We checked into The Terrace Hostel based on various peoples opinions of the place. The views were incredible as it quite literally has a terrace overlooking Volcán de Agua (pictured at the bottom of this post) in the east. The hostel itself wasn't bad but not amazing. Ofir's friend, Shay, was flying in from Brazil so we quickly grabbed a burrito and nachos. I also saw some of the guys I met in Nicaragua here too so ended up going out with them although it was a bit of a flop as the police shut down all of the bars/clubs at 1am. I wasn't too fussed though as I have to be up at 7:30 to hike up Volcán de Pacaya.

06/07/2014

After eating a quick breakfast of huevos rancheros on the terrace, I was picked up to go hiking. The group was actually pretty good although most kept themselves to themselves. We spent an hour in the shuttle to the start point and then another 1.5 hours walking up to the crater of the volcano. The views were spectacular, which looked over the surrounding cities and lush green jungle.

The volcano itself last erupted in March so we couldn't walk to the very top. The lava flow had cooled and hardened from what we could see from the lookout. After a few pictures we then bumped into Mr McKinney (blue, second from the left in the group picture) who happened to be the old guy who the new crater was named after! He was absolutely fascinated by the GoPro and requested pictures of me and it! We then wondered down to the lava flow where you could still feel the heat. We could toast marshmallows on it it was that warm! When we were walking back it absolutely pissed it down and I only had a Tshirt and shorts!

Once back in Antigua, Ofir and Shay we were waiting for me to book onward travel for tomorrow. Once booked, we had another burrito for dinner and wondered around the beautiful city. It's basically a blend between the touristy San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and Leon in Nicaragua. Most of the buildings are nicely kept with a cobbled road running though the maze-like city.

I've now decided to go to Semuc Champey, which wasn't originally in the plan but it's on the way to Flores. Not only that, where I have saved a few days over the last month or so, I decided that seeing something unique to Guatemala was better than sitting on another beach in Mexico.